Sousaphonist in Haiti telethon

[Hank74]

Does anyone know who was the person that played the sousaphone twice in the "Hope for Haiti" telethon tonight? He was terrific and did our instrument proud in this special event.

[eupher61]

Hank,
since some may have missed it... can you provide more info about the group--what other instruments, where were they live from, style...I've heard a couple of rumors about people trying to get on it, but don't know if they're reality or not.

[dmmorris]

I think the band was "The Roots".... so, Damon "Tuba Gooding Jr." Bryson on sousaphone.

[Hank74]

That may be him. He looked familiar. All I know was he was with Sting in one song and then appeared in another. Looked and played good.

[David Richoux]

Damon "Tuba Gooding Jr." Bryson has probably gotten more exposure of the Sousaphone to the TV & Internet Generation than any other single player! I still have not heard a good recording of him - almost all of the TV or Youtube clips I have seen & heard do not have enough of a bass emphasis mix - he just gets into the low frequency noise muddle - even with a mic stuck down his bell...

Here is the video clip, and there are clips for most all of the other performers

[Bignick1357]

Tuba Gooding Jr is an amazing sousaphone player I have seen them live a couple times now and you can always count on a couple good solos from him

[The Jackson]

I love these comments on the YouTube videos of Tuba Gooding Jr. playing by high school kids calling him a "garbage" player with "bad tone" and who "puffs his cheeks"...

[TUbajohn20J]

You know, many people would say that he is not a "professional" for reasons like you mentioned..puffs his cheeks, blats, plays loud, etc..but that is exactly the style that he NEEDS. A sousaphone is a completely different instrument than a tuba and I definitely don't play the same way on a sousa that I would on a concert tuba. I wouldn't have it any other way. And a "professional" is somebody who gets paid to play; and believe me, he is making GOOD money with that sousaphone. All those late night TV stage band gigs, Roots concerts, and club gigs..I'm pretty sure many people only wish they could be where he's at right now. Therefor, he is a professional.

[Bignick1357]

From what I've seen is he does the puffing of the cheeks as a stage presence thing. and the blatting is stylistic so I agree if he's making this much money with all of his gigs I have nothing bad to say!

[Hank74]

OK, we've established that was Tuba Gooding Jr. in the Haiti telethon. He was great in both performances.

My next question is what kind of sousa did he play. Does he play just one horn or does he have any others?

[Bignick1357]

Ive seen him in concert with what looks like a silver king sousaphone and Im not sure but he uses a laquer one on Jimmy Fallons show I haven't spent enough time watching the show to find out

[TUbajohn20J]

He uses Conn 20K's. I've seen him play an old satin silver naked lady, a new satin silver 20K, and a new laquered 20K.